Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Barbara at the Schenley Park Skating Rink,
working the club's April 2005 endorsement meeting.

Next Monday marks two months since Barbara died. (Her obituary is here.) High time that this blog made some effort, however inadequate, to celebrate her political life and dedication to the club.

Barbara first joined the club’s board in 1991, becoming a
vice-president in 1995. While many candidates through the years dropped their association
with the club after seeking office, Barbara remained very central to its activities, both after her failed bid for the
state house in 1998 and her successful campaign for county council in 2011. Not to mention her contentious fight for ward chair in 2006, when she committed to staying on the
club’s board if elected, and again, in 2008, when she was tapped for a paying gig as the Western PA Coordinator of
Women for Obama. In an email announcing the job to the club's board, Barbara wrote, “My
life will be crazy for the next few weeks, and I am going to try very hard to
keep all of my regular commitments, like to the club!”

With a Friday, July 3 deadline looming to submit letters of intent to seek Barbara’s seat on county council, this is also an opportune time to recall her always strong encouragement of those considering a run for office.

Here’s a March 2007 Post-Gazette letter to the editor in
which Barbara makes the case for competitive elections:

Unfair to Peduto

Your March 22 editorial "Peduto's
Exit: Pittsburgh Loses in a Case of No Guts, No Glory" hit way below
the belt, particularly with this sentence: "He turned his back on the
city, an act that will be recalled in shame." In my mind your editorial
represents a serious case of shooting the messenger.
This race was over -- Bill Peduto knew it and so did everyone involved in
grass-roots politics in this city. You conceded as much: "This was a race
that, even if pre-determined by a strong political tide, needed to be
fought." Bill Peduto was fighting an uphill battle, attempting to speak
about issues important to our city, and for months he was getting next to
nothing for his efforts from the mainstream media, including the Post-Gazette.

As someone who knows something about running for political office, let me
say emphatically that being a candidate is very difficult -- and for the
PG to criticize someone who put himself out there as a candidate in an almost
hostile climate because he saw a need for discussion of the issues, and because
he believed he could make a difference, is a disgrace.

Mr. Peduto did not enter the race to be a sacrificial lamb. For the
Post-Gazette to say that he should have stayed in and played that role for the
good of the city is over the top.

As someone who has long believed that competition makes for better
candidates and ultimately better government, I regret that Bill Peduto dropped
out of the race. But rather than belittle him, I will thank him for putting
himself in the race in the first place, and for trying to make a difference.

And here is an op-ed from Barbara that the Post-Gazette declined to publish, also from March 2007. It contains both a very personal recollection of her father's death, and a sympathetic take on a local politician who answered when duty called ...

Why We Like LukeBy Barbara Daly Danko

I have
spent much of my adult life in politics and government – as a practitioner, as
a teacher, and as someone involved at the grassroots level.I confess to being a policy wonk, and I am
constantly telling my students to look at the issues when looking at the
candidates.I have also long believed
that competition makes for better candidates and ultimately, better
government.And yet, this year the
issues don’t seem to matter to almost anyone, the public at large has not
engaged in the debate, and that has puzzled me.I think I’ve finally figured out why, and to explain, I need to tell you
a story from almost 30 years ago.

November 2,
1978 had to be the darkest day of my life.My father, my hero, was on his way home from a retirement party at the
U.S. Capitol in Washington,
D.C. when he suffered a massive
coronary at the age of 62.By the time
he got to the hospital he was dead – and my mother was a widow, and his four
children - one in high school, one newly married, and two still trying to
launch – were left devastated.He was a
much-loved man who left us much too soon.

We had no
extended family living in D.C., so at first we were on our own.We made the calls, we scheduled the
visitation and the funeral Mass, we picked out the suit and tie for him to wear
in the casket – all those things that custom requires, to help the grieving get
through those first few hours and days.We didn’t sleep, we didn’t eat – we couldn’t, because all we really felt
like doing was crying.

Finally, we
were forced to go to the funeral home – it was time to have our friends, and
eventually the relatives, pay their respects.And so we drove there, mostly in silence.We were on time, and so we each knelt before
the casket and prayed – and then we sat and waited . . . and waited . . . and
for a few moments I wondered if anyone else knew or cared about our grief.And then my youngest sister’s high school
band instructor came in, and just held her, and let her cry before going over
to speak with my mother.This long-time
teacher was followed by lots of other people, but he was the first, the one who
stepped forward, and in those first moments did everything right when he was
most needed . . . and for that, I will never forget him.

Which
brings me back to Luke . . . A year ago no one in their right mind would have
bet a dime that Luke Ravenstahl would today be the Mayor of Pittsburgh.Yet, we all watched and lived through the
tragedy of Mayor O’Connor’s last months, the machinations on Grant Street, and finally Bob’s death on
September 1.And we all watched as Luke
took the oath in a simple ceremony just hours later.Lots of people may have wanted to, but it was
Luke’s job according to the City Charter to step up to the plate, and carry the
City during those first few hours and days and months following Mayor
O’Connor’s death.He did it; and he did
it with class and dignity.He stepped
forward when we needed him most, to get us through this moment in our City’s
history. And that is why we like Luke.
When I hear people say, “Give the kid a chance,” I think what they are really
saying is: “We owe him.”

Has Luke
made mistakes? Yes.Have I agreed with
Luke on every issue?No.Did I vote for Bill Peduto in the Democratic
Committee endorsement to keep the conversation about issues going forward?Yes.But
this year I don’t think Ed Rendell, Dan Onorato, or even Barack Obama - let
alone Bill Peduto - could beat Luke Ravenstahl in the Mayor’s race.In the minds of most of the public, Luke’s
name is the only one on the ballot.In
two years, when the race is for a full four year term, things will be
different, but my money says, the 2007 race is over.We Like Luke.

The author is an Adjunct Faculty member at CCAC, and Chair of the 14th
Ward Democratic Committee.

Friday, April 18, 2014

Two great names from the 14th Ward's past--Ivan Itkin and Poli's Restaurant--featured prominently in the club's 20th anniversary celebration. Itkin was the honoree; Poli's the venue. Poli's closed in 2005 and was sold at sheriff's sale last year. Itkin has enjoyed a better fate, including 25 years in the state house and the Democratic candidate for governor in 1998 (he lost to incumbent Tom Ridge). Itkin was a very active club leader, serving as president in the early 1970s.

Today, Itkin has spread his progressive political roots to his new home in Florida, where he is president of the GO GO Democrats, aka the Galt Ocean Grassroots Organization
Democratic Club, "a group of active citizens on the Galt Ocean mile in Ft
Lauderdale, FL", according to the organization's Facebook page.

The club will mark its 50th anniversary next weekend with a fundraiser and endorsement meeting at Colfax School in Squirrel Hill. More information, including a ticket and sponsorship order form, is here.

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Talk about qualified! And even better, both Dolores Gluck and Milton Brauman won their Allegheny County Democratic Committee seats in what was then the ward's 21st District, located north of Forbes and south of Wilkins, between Wightman and Murray.

And for a bonus blast from the past, here's Shirley Stark's letter to prospective committee constituents from 1966. She lived along the Schenley Park Golf Course, on Darlington Road, in what is now the 38th District. Again, qualifications galore and a really strong letter--Pitt and University of Chicago grad, two young children in public school, and deeply involved in local political and neighborhood groups (note that Shirley highlighted her leadership in getting a "ladycop" assigned to the intersection of Beacon and Wightman--while the nomenclature may change with the times, the need for civic-minded community activism remains).

Friday, February 7, 2014

The club's archives include an interesting collection of campaign
paraphernalia from, of all things, Allegheny County Democratic Committee races.

The position clearly carried more weight back in the salad days of
patronage and ward chair power. Many committee races involved
more than one candidate (a rare occurrence nowadays, for better or
worse), and in a few primary elections the club ran an extensive slate
of endorsed candidates in a bid to take over the ward.

According to a 1964 Pittsburgh Press article about
the club, "Dr. Eugene Sucov, chairman of the 14th Ward Independent
Democrats, announced his group will seek to elect 37 members of the Ward
Democratic Committee." One of those committee hopefuls was current club
board member Nat Hershey. (Here's a headshot of Nat in 1964.)

Posted below are the entire results of the 1964 14th Ward committee elections, along with a list of club-backed candidates and a map of the districts at that time (there were 32, compared to to 41 today.) Unfortunately, many of the club's candidates lost that year, including Nat, Carol Berger and Marcum Schneider. However, Celeste prevailed, and of course, Nat and other club candidates would be elected to the committee in subsequent elections.

Note the number of contested races, some with three or more candidates, as well as some of the razor-thin margins of victory. For example, in District 7, in the heart of Point Breeze, Thomas Mahon beat Thomas Sheehy by one vote, 152 to 151, with the club's candidate, Richard Rieker, taking another 82 votes. Or how about 546 votes cast for four male candidates in District 15, near Blue Slide Park? That's a huge number compared to contemporary turnouts.

Not a bad level of interest for an unpaid, under-appreciated, bottom-rung position on the Democratic Party ladder!

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Beatrice "Bicky" Goldszer was one committed committee person, as evidenced by her wide-ranging constituent services and multi-point community action plan listed in the campaign flier below. No date is indicated on the literature, but the mid- to late-1980s would be a good guess, judging by the font style and the fact that National Night Out started in 1984--Bicky was a prime mover in expanding the public safety event in the 14th Ward. Bicky was an active club board member and helped to organize a number of club fundraisers, including the sixth annual "Swanky Ball" (see photo in this post).

CLARIFICATION: Long-time club board member and former Pittsburgh Public Schools board member Liz Healy reports that this flier was circulated in 1990, when she and Bicky squared off in a school board race.

It doesn't quite have the ring of, say, "Remember the Maine, Down with Spain", but former club president Bill Behrend's call to action in 1976 highlights one of the club's catalyzing issues: reform and control of the Allegheny County Democratic Committee in the 14th Ward.

Note the list of endorsed committee candidates below. Dr. Cyril Wecht's name
is circled for some reason. He would quit the club the next year in a
dispute over the its mayoral endorsement, as detailed here.
Other endorsed committee candidates include club founders Celeste
Behrend, Molly Yard Garrett and Janet Kreisman, former club president
Mary Hall, and Michelle Madoff, who would become an outspoken member of
Pittsburgh City Council in 1978.

The boxed text indicates that the committee was elected every two years. The cycle has now been expanded to four years and this year, 2014, all committee seats are again up for grabs. In fact, an important deadline is fast approaching. Any prospective candidate must collect 10 signatures from registered Democrats in their committee district to be included on the primary election ballot in May. Candidates may start collecting the signatures on February 18, with petitions due to be filed with the Allegheny County Division of Elections by March 11.